Tales from the Road

This past fall, I visited Nashville, Tennessee, for a wedding with Jackie and her family. Our lodging was in Franklin, a gorgeous historic city, about 20 miles, south of Nashville. Franklin was founded in 1799 and named after Benjamin Franklin. The area prospered before the Civil War with the farming of tobacco and hemp. During the Civil War, Tennessee was occupied by Union troops, In 1864, after the fall of Atlanta, the South launched a offensive to retake Nashville. The one day battle, which took place in Franklin, resulted in almost 10,000 casualties, the majority by the south. While Jackie and her daughter helped with wedding arrangements, Lucas, Emmett and I visited the site of the battle and the large McGavock Confederate Cemetery. The cemetery contains 1,500 graves and is the largest private Confederate cemetery in the U.S. The graves are separated by states with a large memorial for each state with number of soldiers who lost their lives on each state memorial. The boys were fascinated as we quietly walked down the rows of headstones in the middle of the battlefi eld. They asked why Michigan was not included and I explained that it was only for the Confederate states. The boys noticed that Mississippi had the highest number of casualties with 424 and Louisiana the least with 19. We also stopped into the 1826 Carnton Antebellum mansion that was was used as a hospital during the Battle of Franklin, with its wood fl oors still showing blood stains from the more than 300 Union and Confederate soldiers brought in during the battle.

~ franklin, tennesee ~

By Steve Ellis

We also explored the grounds of the Carter House and surrounding buildings that hold more than 1000 bullet holes from the battle. The historic downtown is like stepping back in time with its old brick buildings, full of unique stores and eateries. The boys and I asked around for a good bakery and we were directed to the Triple Crown Bakery, in a colorful old house with a variety of scratch made breakfast pastries, cookies, individual desserts, sandwiches and full size cakes. We split a tasty cinnamon roll on the front porch two mornings in a row! The classic Franklin Theatre that originally opened in 1937 was getting ready for a fi lm festival. The Rare Prints Gallery housed a wonderful collection of old maps, prints and other pieces of ephemera. The owner gave us a tour and opened an old wooden curio cabinet and gave each boy a fossil. The Philanthropy store was full of cool home decor, clothing and antiques. There was also a barn wood sided room that offered slips of paper to fi ll out and leave prayer messages on the wall. One evening, I browsed a local guidebook and noticed a handful of annual events the looked like fun including: The Main Street Festival every April that attracts over 100,000 visitors and offers a wide variety of art, food and beer. Another event, The Pilgrimage Music Cultural Festival occurs every September and attracts some of the top acts in the country. The Dickens of a Christmas, held in December attracts 50,000 visitors to enjoy a variety of musicians, dancers and Dickens characters fi lling the streets. Our trip was full of history, rolling farmland and of course love, which is the reason that we stumbled upon this wonderful area. Franklin was a wonderful town and we hope to get back again soon.

Signature Artists LLC Celebrates the Season With Their 42nd Annual Exhibit

This Kalamazoo tradition of locally made works, will take place from December 1 – 27, 2022. An artist’s reception will be held from noon-5 on December 4th. The gallery is located in the Carillion Center, South Westnedge, near Qdoba. This year, they welcome three new artists to their gallery: Amy Culp – jewelry, Mary Baggerman – fi ber arts and Shannon Dion – fi ber arts.

For more information on this year’s Signature Gallery please visit www.signature-artist.com